Epilepsy impairs the verbal and cognitive abilities of a child as it is the disruption of nerve cell in the brain hence causing seizures hence are vulnerable. Hurst described vulnerability as," an identifiable increased likelihood of incurring additional or greater wrong"(Hurst, 2008). Studies have shown that one percent of children less than seventeen years of age suffer from this condition; hence, the purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact of Epilepsy on children’s educational development.
The Ethical Approval process and Guidelines
Ethical guidelines were implemented in 1979 after the introduction of the concept of vulnerability in research (Ten Have, 2015). These guidelines were introduced to ensure that no harm comes to both parties, researchers, and participants, in the course of the research. Ethical approval is needed in determining whether a research idea is viable by ensuring that the participant’s safety and well-being are solely considered. This process also provides that analysis of data is achieved to determine the sensitivity and availability of the data. This research focuses on a study which involves interviews from the parents of children suffering from Epilepsy, and data from teachers of some disabled students from five schools in the Oppland and Hedmark District, Norway. As a practitioner, I will research to answer the following question.
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How do the implications of epilepsy on children’s health and quality of life affect their education?
My role as a researcher is to assess and identify the effects of epilepsy in children, as it is my area of expertise and experience. I have previous experience working with disabled children and youth at school. Currently, I am working as an assistant in institutional services to an individual with epilepsy. My research participants will, therefore, be parents of children who have epilepsy and some of the teachers that teach these children. Furthermore, I have identified six teachers and six parents willing to take part in the interview, recruited from a parents and teachers meeting. Through explaining my reasons for the study, numerous participants registered for the interview, however only the above mentioned fit the criteria. This involved selecting parents with more than one child suffering from epilepsy or some who have had similar experiences with other children diagnosed with epilepsy and their own. Initiating this research will aid in identifying issues associated with ethics in an academic environment and determining ethical codes that help to avoid them. Researchers should ensure the research is reliable, results are evidence-based and that they follow the required guidelines (Liamputtong, 1999).
Competence of a Researcher
The researchers should be able to make the participants understand their full legal rights and limitations while taking part in the study. Students, specifically epileptic students, fall into the vulnerable category as they cannot provide informed consent and are at a higher risk of being manipulated or forced into taking part in the research; hence, my approach will be to interview and conduct a survey on their parents and teachers instead. Jameton (1994) argues that some of the critical elements in the analysis include a competent researcher.
Conclusion
My goal is to conduct ethical research to determine the impact of epilepsy on children’s educational development. Learning and reading is an integral part of progress therefore little to no factors should hinder this process. Additionally, it is evident that ethical policies protect the interests of the participants, as they may experience difficulties in the course of the study thus this will be my primary concern.
References
Howe, K.R. and Moses, M.S., 1999. Chapter 2: Ethics in educational research. Review of research in education, 24(1), pp.20-59.
Hurst, S.A., 2008. Vulnerability in research and health care; describing the elephant in the room. Bioethics, 22(4), pp.190-202.
Liamputtong, P. ed., 2008. Doing cross-cultural research: Ethical and methodological perspectives (Vol. 34). Springer Science & Business Media.
Ten Have, H., 2015. Respect for human vulnerability: the emergence of a new principle in bioethics. Journal of bioethical inquiry, 12(3), pp.394-409.
